Marion Co TOC

There are as many versions of the Tutt-Everett feud as there are leaves on a tree. The main character after the initial killings was Jesse N. Everett. The question today is "Was he really as responsible for the killing of Hansford Tutt as has been said?"

As for traditional Everett family stories told in Texas there are basically only two.

The first story is that the Everett men were "MEAN".

The second story is that Uncle Johnny Everett (a later Texas generation) took all of the horses belonging to Uncle Jesse's widow when Jesse was struck and killed by lightning when the two brothers were bringing their newly purchased horses back from Louisiana. Uncle Johnny then swore to kill any family member who tried to get his brother's half of the herd for the widow.

There was never a word about any feud in Marion Co. AR which had to do with the Everett families living in Texas. That first generation to live in Texas apparently kept the secret of the Tutt-Everett feud hidden until research on the Everetts in AR was begun in the 1990's.

The Everetts began to drift into Texas when Jesse N. Everett came in the 1840's. In 1850 Thomas Ewell Everett and his brother, William Haney Everett, moved to Bosque Co. By 1853 John S. Everett and his son, Jesse S. Everett, are found living in Bell Co. not far from Bosque Co. Haney Everett went back to Marion Co. AR and gathered up the familiy of his deceased brother Simmons Everett whose wife was Leah and brought them to Bosque Co. The family of Isaac Barton headed by Nancy Wilson Everett stayed in Marion Co. and later moved to Taney Co. MO.

Jesse N. was enumerated on the 1840 Marion Co. AR census and he continued to appear in the Marion Co. tax lists until 1844 when he moved to Texas. Jesse N. moved to Dallas Co. TX and not to Denton Co. as has been stated numerous times in past articles. In fact, he arrived early enough in Texas that he received land in the Robertson Colony. It is not known WHEN Jesse N. received word that his brothers had been killed on 9 Oct 1848. (It can be assumed that Francis Everett carried the message as Francis is later found to have married in Dallas Co. TX in Dec. of 1849.) However,Jesse N. made no move to go to AR until the following summer of 1849. We have no way of knowing whether he even went to kill Hampton Tutt or not. But, it does appear that he was going to avenge the death of his brothers on the King family where he seems to have placed the blame. The following document from the AR State Archives will explain what seemed to be going on in Marion Co. in the later part of the summer of 1849.

State of Arkansas
County of Marion

To the Sheriff or any Constable of the County of Marion and State of Arkansas:

Greeting.

Whereas on the 3rd day of September A.D. 1849 in the county and state aforesaid information hath been given to me on oath, That on the 31st day of August A. D. 1849 in the County and state aforesaid Jesse N. Everett, Nelson Stratton, William H. Everett, Archibald Everett, John Everett, Jr. George Hamlet, Jesse Everett, Jr., Alexander Cowan, Robert Adams, and Thomas F. Stephens, did with Pistols, Rifles, Shotguns and Muskets, Willfully, Maliciously, and Deliberately Shoot, Kill and murder Loomis Y. King, William Y. King, Sr, and William Y. King, Jr, then and there being. And on the day and year last aforesaid, at the county aforesaid Jesse Mooney, Matthew Adams, John Adams, John W. Cowan, Ansel Reynolds, Elgin Ely, Thompson Lane, William Royalston, Joseph Goodall, Henry Stephens and John Everett, Sr. not being present at the killing aforesaid did counsel advise and encourage the killing and murder of the said .... You are therefore commanded to take and apprehand the aforesaid ... if be found in the State of Arkansas, and bring them before me or some Judge or Justice of the Peace within and for the county of Marian aforesaid to be dealt with according to law. Given under my hand as Judge of Supreme Court, with in and for the State aforesaid.

David Walker
Judge of the Supreme Court of AR

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September 3, 1849

David Walker, Judge of the Supreme Court of AR to the Sheriff or any Constable of the County of Marion and State of AR
Transcribed by Edward H. Moore)

Head Quarters Yelleville Ark.
Oct. 24, 1849

Sir: You will take one Sergeant one Corporal and twenty three privates and proceed with Jesse N. Everett and Nelson Stratton prisioners now in your care to the residence of Jim Hargraves Sheriff of this County which is Eighteen miles from this place. You will then order all the privates back to Camp but ten. You will then accompany the Sheriff to Smithville in Lawrence County and immediately return to Yellville and await for further orders.

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To Captain W. C. Mitchell

By order of A. Wood
Adj. Genl of Arkansas
I. M. Cox
Aide campt

After the indictment and the securing of the prisioners in jail in Lawrence Co., tensions were strong in both of the opposing parties. According to the old stories of the past a group of Everett men released the prisioners from the jail one night. Stratton and Everett returned to Texas and the fate of the other two indicted men is not known. Apparently, all of those men indicted, but not arrested left AR for MO where they were not wanted by the law. How Jesse N. Everett and Nelson T. Stratton got back to Dallas Co. is not known. The only true fact is that Jesse N. Everett did die of the Cholera, but he died in Dec. of 1849 in Dallas Co. TX and not in Shreveport, LA.

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In conclusion it is clear that Jesse N. Everett had one and only one mission in going to Marion Co. AR. He went there to kill the Kings who had shot his two brothers. If, in fact, Jesse N. Everett had wanted to kill Hamp Tutt he would have done it. He had more than enough men to carry out such an assignment. Tutt, himself, was not ambushed until the following year in September of 1850. In fact, he made out a Will shortly before he died so he must have been warned of his impending death. Jesse N. Everett never had a hand in his death as so many of the old stories have claimed.He was an innocent man when it came to the murder of Hamp Tutt.

Here you will find that there is enough evidence to show that Jesse N. Everett did not murder Hamp Tutt. He, however, was quite guilty of killing the King family members.

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